Nigeria allocates 10bn naira to fight epidemics
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Tribune Online
Nigeria has allocated 10 billion naira to strengthen prevention, detection and response to Lassa fever, cholera, Ebola and other epidemic diseases. Jide Idris, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, says the funds were paid directly to the agency and that no active Ebola cases have been recorded, according to Tribune Online.
Nigeria has allocated 10 billion naira to preparedness and response to several diseases likely to cause epidemics, including Lassa fever, cholera, Ebola, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, measles and monkeypox. The funding was paid directly to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), and not to the presidential task force responsible for coordinating the response to Ebola, its director general, Jide Idris, said on Monday, quoted by Tribune Online.
Idris specified that the allocation had been approved in June 2026, after an Ebola outbreak emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and that his request predated the confirmation of an imported case in Nigeria. The NCDC confirmed the case on 20 October, within 24 hours of it being reported in Abuja.
Nigeria currently has no active cases of Ebola, but identified contacts remain under monitoring for 21 days. Jide Idris said the situation did not justify postponing elections or banning gatherings or travel. The NCDC recommends that organisers apply infection prevention and control protocols, Tribune Online reports. The results of contact monitoring are also documented in the report on Ebola tests in Nigeria.
